Kandar Dinesson's page

Northern Ancestry: One of your parents came from the North, and the tales of the frozen lands at the top of the world that you grew up listening to excited your imagination. Alternatively, maybe one of your ancestors passed on the blood of some frost-rimed creature. You feel most alive during the chill of winter, and as a child, you spent hours playing in the snow. You rarely feel the cold, and you’ve always had a restless longing to travel north. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saves, as well as cold resistance 2; this resistance does not stack with cold resistance gained from any other source.

Superstitious: You are distrustful of any magic that goes beyond your native shamanic ways. As long as you do not possess any levels in a class that grants arcane spellcasting power, you gain a +1 trait bonus on all saving throws against arcane spells.

Theoretical Magician: You’ve studied more magic than what you can actually perform. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Spellcraft checks, or a +3 bonus if you aren’t a spellcaster.

Foul Brand (hand): You have the symbol of an evil deity burned into your hand. You take a –1 penalty on Disable Device, Disguise, and Sleight of Hand checks.

Acrobatics +1 (-3 to jump)
Bluff +3
Climb +3
Diplomacy +3
Intimidate +4
Perception +6
Sense Motive +7
Spellcraft +6 (+8 to identify a spell as it's being cast, to identify the properties of a magic item using detect magic, or to decipher a scroll)
Survival +6

Precise Shot: You are adept at firing ranged attacks into melee.

Prerequisites: Point-Blank Shot.

Benefit: You can shoot or throw ranged weapons at an opponent engaged in melee without taking the standard –4 penalty on your attack roll.

Rapid Shot: You can make an additional ranged attack.

Prerequisites: Dex 13, Point-Blank Shot.

Benefit: When making a full-attack action with a ranged weapon, you can fire one additional time this round. All of your attack rolls take a –2 penalty when using Rapid Shot.

Disruptive: Your training makes it difficult for enemy spellcasters to safely cast spells near you.

Benefit: The DC to cast spells defensively increases by +4 for all enemies that are within your threatened area. This increase to casting spells defensively only applies if you are aware of the enemy's location and are capable of taking an attack of opportunity. If you can only take one attack of opportunity per round and have already used that attack, this increase does not apply.

Bonus feats (per GM): point blank shot, deadly aim, power attack, weapon finesse, combat expertise

(CL 1st; concentration +3)
. . 1st (2/day)—divine favor, shield of faith
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, guidance, light, stabilize
. . Domain Spellkiller inquisition

Equipped cold-weather outfit, hide armor, longbow, spear, flight arrows (20), cold iron arrows (10)
Backpack bedroll, hemp rope (50 ft.), manacles, trail rations (5), waterskin
Belt pouch flint and steel, wooden holy symbol of Calistria, 16 gp, 2 sp, 1 cp

“Ah Hells, I’ll make the run.” Da said. A wiry Varisian man piped in, ”Yeah, Dines, don’t you have roots up there? You’d probably do a lot better in the cold than the rest of us.” Father looked over at the man with a grimace, ”Aye, s’pose I do.” And with that, the trades meeting was adjourned. Da led us back out to wagons, going over the trip with Ma and me, ”Up through the Nolands, to Jol. We’ll be heading into cold unlike ye ne’er felt, boy. We’ll need furs, oil, and an extra wagon fer wood.” The thought of travelling north excited me, I’d never seen snow before. If only I’d known how naive I was…

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We were making good time. We’d just finished drying our gear after having forded the Steam River and according to Da we had another day’s travel before heading into the Nolands, home to warring bands of criminals and vagabonds. It was at dusk that night when I saw the first snowflake. One turned to many, and before we knew it, everything was dusted with frost. We weren’t expecting weather like this for a tenday, but didn’t think it anything of it as we donned our furs and wool cloaks. I didn’t hesitate to range out ahead of our train and before I knew it, the wagons were lost in a sheet of white. The winds picked up and the flakes got larger, and heavier. I heard Da yelling for me, but his voice was distant and it was hard to tell what direction he was calling from. I turned round and round trying to follow his voice and that was when I noticed the blue glow. It was obscured by snowfall, but without thinking my steps lead me towards it. It was coming from a solid white column, about waist high, which lie at the heart of the storm. I heard whispers, their tone was warm and inviting, but I didn’t recognize the language. The urge to reach out and grasp it was too great to bear. As I bent down I noticed arcane markings flowing across the smooth stone, the source of the glow. They pulsed and slid across it’s surface in an entrancing dance of soothing light. I reached out and laid my hand upon it’s cool surface... Snap! ...The world went dark.

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When I opened my eyes, nothing greeted me but the blazing sun floating lazily in a clear blue sky. My head throbbed and I could still hear that old crone’s maniacal cackling. She has haunted my dreams every night since. Always pointing and laughing, rambling hysterics in a language I don’t understand. But somehow I know that she is condemning me to death. It’s only a matter of time… But those sensations paled in comparison to the burning agony of my right hand. I looked down in horror at some sort of arcane symbol seared into the back of my hand. It was blistered and raw and whenever I moved pain radiated up my arm and across my chest. It was many months before I would be able to draw a bow again. I scanned the blinding horizon and noticed some forms off in the distance. The caravan. I steadily made my way towards it, trudging through the snow as my mind slowly pieced itself back together. As I got closer, I wondered why I didn’t see any smoke from cooking fires or hear Da barking orders. And then I saw them. Some bodies were frozen solid, some were shattered, others were cracked and broken. All were dead. My next memory is of wiping the sweat from my brow after having buried the remains in the dark soil of a nearby hillock. I wasn’t crying because I had no tears left to shed.

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I don’t remember the exact moment I decided to head south. I simply travelled because there was nothing else I could do. I rode but never got sore, I slept but never felt rested, I ate but never tasted. It was only many months later, while “existing” (for that was truly all that I was doing) in Riddleport that I finally found a sense of purpose. Using my father’s influence within the council, I gained temporary access to the Cypher Lodge. I immediately began researching what I had seen. Odd occurrences of weather, witches of the frigid north, arcane practices, rituals, and customs. Much of what I found pointed to the reign of terror of Baba Yaga in Irrisen. I found a crude sketch of the hag and immediately recognized her as the crone from my dreams. What does the Queen of Witches want with me? When I wasn’t studying, I was drowning my misery in the flesh of the fairer sex. The ladies of the House of the Silken Veil were very accommodating. They were eager to share information, among other things, and while they lusted for sex, I found that I lusted for revenge. I recognized the parallels with their goddess, Calistria. I vowed to exact revenge in her name and in return she granted me the divine power to do so.

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Rumors began to circle the Lodge of summer snows coating the land in southern Taldor. Much like the bizarre storm that had killed my family. I bought passage on the next ship to Oppara. It is here that I sit and write, swaying with the seas, hoping to take the first steps on my path to vengeance once this ship docks in The Gilded City...